Tuesday, 29 November 2016

UK still proceeding with preparations to ratify Unified Patent Court

In a press release the UK intellectual property office states that they are still proceeding with preparations to ratify the Unified Patent Court Agreement. The press release is optimistically titled "UK signals green light to Unified Patent Court Agreement".

It is not all green lights in the press release though. Baroness Neville Rolfe (Minister for Intellectual Property) links the ratification to access to the free market. Is this press release offering ratification of the unitary patent in exchange for access to the free market? Despite the optimistic language, I still do not expect a quick ratification. If the Article 50 exit negotiations will include negotiating the Unified Patent Court Agreement, it will take at least two more years. Assuming of course, the unitary patent does not fall by the wayside in the process.